Christian school kindergarten teacher charged with sexual assault, soliciting child porn
A pre-K and kindergarten teacher and pastor's wife at a Christian private school near Chicago has been accused of sexually assaulting students and soliciting child pornography.
Shannon Griffin, a teacher at Jordan Baptist School in Oak Lawn, Illinois, was charged with five counts of criminal sexual assault and solicitation of child pornography by the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Her bond is set at $750,000.
The alleged behavior took place for six years, starting in 2013 and continuing until March this year, according to a month-long investigation by the sheriff's office.
Jordan Baptist School, where Griffin teaches, is connected to a church of the same name. Both the school and church are led by Griffin's husband, Thomas Griffin. Two of their daughters, Amber and Alyssa, are also teachers at the school, according to the school's website.
Griffin allegedly "engaged in sexual conduct" with an underage male student at the school, said the Cook County Sheriff's office.
Prosecutors said Griffin and the student had sex, often in exchange for alcohol, said WLS-TV. The victim was 15 years old when the conduct started, they said.
She was also charged with distribution of harmful materials, allegedly sending naked images and videos of herself to the victim and another student at the school, and asking that they send her nude images.
The visuals were later circulated around the school – reaching parents of students, WBBM-TV reported.
One graduate of the school accused Griffin of engaging in suspicious behavior. "She would put her arm on (one student) and she would sit too close to him, especially when we would have chapel," said Yhaneera Aparicio-Armas, a Jordan Baptist graduate, to WLS-TV.
Griffin, according to Aparicio-Armas, enforced the school's strict dress code strictly.
"She would write me up and other girls," she told WLS-TV. "How ironic that you're telling us how to dress, us how to be modest, and be Christian women, and you turn around doing the exact opposite."
Jordan Baptist School has not responded to a request for comment from Paste BN.